Collection of Competitor Info

Any good marketing plan requires that the leadership understand their competition, and what they have to offer. Doing a competitive analysis to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and align them with the threats and opportunities in the market can help you have a better, and more accurate marketing plan.In order to analyze your competition, you have to be able to collect information about them. Here are a few of the ways to collect competitor info:

It is important to note that getting information on your competitors should be collected both internally and externally.

Use your sales representatives. They have access to your customers and can quickly asses your position in their mind. In other words, customers are likely to be open with you about what your competitors offer that you don't. Because your sales representatives deal with your customers on a daily basis, and thus, should be the first line of defense in your marketing as they can hear about any impending problems, or competitor campaigns before they hurt the company.

Another way to collect competitor information is to put together a research and development campaign that checks for things like new patents. This can help you see what is going to be rolled out in the near future, and you can come up with your own product or campaign. There is nothing worse than scrambling to keep up with your competitors after they roll out a new product you had no idea of, and are unprepared to counter with a new, equally wonderful product of your own.

Another great way to collect information on your competition is to talk to your suppliers. If you are dealing with direct competition, it is likely that there are only a few suppliers providing the goods you use. A supplier can let you know if they are supplying a new competitor. They may also be able to let you know if a competitor has changed their order in any significant way.

You can research your customer's perspective with surveys, and other market research. This will help you get a clear idea of what your customers feel your strengths and weaknesses may be.

Information can also be found on the Internet. Customers often post reviews on Facebook fan pages, blogs, review sites, and more, which can give you a lot of useful information, especially what their concerns are. It can help you see what they love and hate about your competitors, as well as yourself. The contact you have with your customers is invaluable, using it to collect competitor information is vital.

The more competitor information you collect the better you will be at assessing your SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Thus, create a marketing plan that capitalizes on your strengths and aligns them with your opportunities. This will help you to obtain the best results, and give you the most leverage with every marketing dollar you have.